Fleeing from a brutal Soviet Red Army onslaught, the Wilhelm Gustloff is ready to leave port jammed with over10,000 German refugees, naval personnel and wounded soldiers. The vesselis designed to hold a maximum of 1,880 passengers and crew. Of the refugees, a staggering four thousand are infants, children and youths on their way to promising safety in the West. Minus 18° Celsius (0° Fahrenheit) weather grips the Oxhöft Pier in Gotenhafen (Gdynia) on Tuesday the 30 th day of January 1945.
For the first time in four years, the former flagship of Nazi pleasure cruising has started its engines. It's setting course for Kiel on mainland Germany - far away from the continued disintegration of the EasternFront . Icebreakers busily work to carve a path throughthe Bay of Danzig to allow passage to the unforg iving winter waters of the Baltic Sea .
This is the last known photo of the
Gustloff, taken as it left port around
12:30PM on January 30, 1945.
source: Gustloff Archiv - used with permission
On the bridge, disagreement and tension is budding. Two main senior officers command the ship. Both Friedrich Petersen, captain of the Gustloff and Lieutenant Commander Wilhelm Zahn, head of the U-boat division which has made its home on the ship for the last 4 years, cannot agree on an appropriate course. Adding to the complexity, two young captains from the merchant marine (Köhler and Weller) also add opinions from their places on the bridge.
Full:
http://www.wilhelmgustloff.com/sinking.htm
Wilhelm Gustloff German Hospital Ship Sunk.
https://sites.google.com/a/mercantilemarine.org/mercantile-marine/War-time-Stories/german

Alexandru Marinescu ) (January 15, 1913 - November 25, 1963) was a Soviet naval officer and, during World War II , the captain of the S-13 submarine , which sank the German ship Wilhelm Gustloff , with recent research showing that over 9,000 died when the ship sank.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Marinesko

It was a terrible loss of life during a period of history where massive loss of life was the norm, sadly. I do agree that this sinking makes the Titanic's losses pale into insignificance, but mysterious phenomena & the paranormal?

Agreed. Need a topic about history.

True! I'd really enjoy that!